Improved apparatus for drying peat



G. WEISSENBORN.

Apparatus for Drying Peat.

Patented Oct. 16, 1866.

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IMPROVED OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING PEAT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58.926. dated October 1li, hihi.

To alt whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gns'rnvns Weissen- BORN, of the city of New York, in the county of New York, and in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Drying Peat; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

I will first proceed to describe what I consider the best means of carrying out my invention, and will afterward designate the points which I believe to be new.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a plan view. longitudinal section. Fig. 3 is a vertical crosssection. The above represent all the principal parts on a small scale. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section ot' a part on a large scale. Fi g. 5 is across-section ot' the same. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of the same parts diierently constructed.

Similar letters ot' reference indicate correspondingparts in all the figures. Tiuts are cmployed merely to aid in distinguishing parts. I do not indicate the material. The material of the moving parts may be iron, and the foundation and walls brick or stone.

A is a foundation, ot' brick or stone work, and B B B are three walls extending in parallel lines and of uniform height. C O are rails tixed on the bed A, and adapted to form a railtrack.

The peat is collected from the field in large lumps by means ot' mechanical appliances. It passes then through a press for removing the greatest portion of the water, and is then thrown into a riddle for pulverization, and passes in its pulverized state directly from the riddle into the muli or peat cars without any handling. The mull or peat cars are then removed, and brought by means of horses or any other conveyance near a steam engine cr boiler for using the waste steam from the engine or waste heat from the boiler, or heated air, which may be heated by circulating in pipes through Fig. 2 is a vertical the furnace of the boiler or otherwise previous to being carried and forced into the bottom of the ears, and through the pulverizcd peat or muli, for the purpose of drying it with as little delay as possible.

D, Sac., are the bodies of the cars, and d d, Ste., are the wheels. The springs and their ordinary appliances (not represented) may be employed at will; but I prefer a very simple construction. I make the bearings where the axles are received very wide, and capable ot' supporting the weight and friction without lubrication, by being simply well prepared with graphite or black-lead.

The cars D are ot such width as to nearly till the spaces between the walls B. I provide hinged iiaps D' at the upper edges of the sides of the cars, which may be either turned inward on the load when the cars are being moved, or may be turned outward and allowed to rest on the top of the walls when the cars are in their position between the walls.

E is a chimney ot" a steam-boiler or other furnace, from whence the waste heat passes under the cars, as shown by the arrows, and returns into the chimney again. To aecomplish this two damper-plates are necessary, and so arranged that one is applied in the chimney, and the other where the gaseous products pass under the cars. The waste gases from the boiler or heat from a furnace built for that purpose are conducted in suitable tlues into the spaces between the floors of the cars l) and the bed A, which spaces form a flue for their passage.

I prefer to arrange the cars in two lines, as represented, though a single line may be used with a proper arrangement of the chimney and furnace; or a greater number ot" ilues may be used, and the gaseous products oi combustion may be compelled to traverse backward and forward several times. W'ith two lines ofcars, as here represented, the hot gases simply traverse the whole length ot one series, and are then transferred across7 as indicated by the arrow, and then traverse back to the other scries till they reach a point nearly over the furnace, when they descend an undcrgrouxnl iiue and rise into the stack lil, as represented.

F indicates the line through which the hot gases traverse from the stack E to transmit their heat to the cars and peat. G represents a liuc through which the same gases escape after having imparted most ot' their heat to the peat.

It will be observed that the ears are adapt ed to fit very elosel y together, so as to leave no space of any considerable magnitude between each car and the next.

My ears thus arranged form what may be termed a drying-table, with the advantage of peculiar facilities for introducing and removing the material with little hand-labor. The ears, after bein g drawn out from between the walls` may be dumped by tilting' or otherwise, and are then ready to be refilled.

I can operate with some effect by depositing peat directly upon the bottom of the cars l), which maybe understood to be made ot thin metal.

By the aid ot' my peculiar' stirring devices and means for introducing heated air through the same, to be described farther on, I can dry a great fpiantity of peat in little time, and with little hand-labor, even ifit rests directly on the bottom, but l prefer a more elaborate construction, which is represented in the drawings, and which I will now describe.

A perforated bottom, l, made of sheetviron, or an iron sieve or analogous means, for allowing the heated tluid to pass from the bottom upward, or from the top downward, or from the sides, either by force or natural draft, may be arranged to accomplish the drying process in little time.

I apply a perforated bottom, perforated with very small holes, which is placed a few inches above the bottom of each carl), ctc., and the spaces between the outer bottom is made to receive a current ot snperheated steam, hot air, or other dry gaseous iuid, which liowsY along from one car to another through each entire series, and is conveyed across from one series to the other by means of a pipe, J. which is fltted on removable covers, as will be readily understood.

I employ no considerable pressure on the superheated steam or hot gas, and slight leaks may be allowed without serious derangement ot'the effect. I prefer, for obvious reasons, hot air as a medium to traverse the spaces under the false bottom I. This air may be heated by pipes traversing over the furnace, or other convenient position, and is forced by a large pump or other approved blowing device. It is received through the pipe X, and rises through the perforations ofthe false bottom I, and penetrates through the mass of peat in each car.

It will be understood, therefore, that a small quantity ot' this hot gas rises up through the peat in the first car, while the larger quantity tlows along into a space under the perforated bottom I in the other ear. This operation continues until the last car is reached. The heat ofthe air or other gaseous agent is maintained by the presence ot' the hot products ot' combustion below the bottom of each car.

My stirring apparatus is r presented as working on the top ot' the false bottom I. It can bc operated through or on the bottom of the ear directly, as before observed, according to which mode of working the apparatus is adopted.

I propose in practice to construct each ear with a false bottom, I, which is loosely fitted, so that it may be removed at will, to allow the apparatus to be worked either with 0r without the false bottom, as may be found best under all the varieties of conditions. In such cases I propose to have the openings at the end through which the tubes work capable of being also raised or lowered by heilig formed in a sliding door, or otherwise, as will bc readily understood by mechanics.

My stirring apparatus is reciprocated backward and forward by means of what is known as a mangio motion, or other suitable mechanism capable of' givin g a long traverse through the stirring parts. These parts are composed of movable cases of triangular section, as indicated by K, which are hollow, and connected together by tubes Il, as represented.

The number of tubes maybe increased, as also the number ot' cases K; but I prefer to employ one ease K for each ear, and to cause the stirring parts to reciprocate to an extent nearly equal to the length of a car. Hot air or superheated steam is driven through the tubes L, and circulates within each of the cases K and tubes L at a high temperature. At the end ot' each series the steam is allowed to escape either directly into the atmosphere or into pipes, from whence it is conducted away, to be made available for other purposes.

It will be observed that I propose usually to employ a separate current of hot steam for each series or line of cars; but they may be connected together, if preferred; or, on the other hand, I can, it' preferred, introduce fresh superheated steam at each end of each series, and allow it to escape at or near the middle ot' each series through upright pipes or other con venient means. The connection ot' the stirring apparatus to the boiler or blower may be formed by flexible hose of india-rubber or analogous material; or it may be formed by pipes sliding one within the other, or by any of the well-known devices for connecting movable tubes. I can employ heated air or other dry gas insteadcf superheated steam, if preferred.

Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show two modes of construeting cars with a view to coupling together the passages below the perforated bottom I. Either of these, or any other convenient means of connection, maybe adopted which will make the passage continuous.

` N are posts temporarily placed near the ends of the cars, and O 0 are screws which are adapted to press together the cars in each series with any desired degree of force. After the several cars are in place, with the coupling properly matched together, one of the posts N is placed at the end of each series, so that it is irmly held in a hole or socket previously provided,and the screw() is turned, and the several cars in each series are pressed together with sufficient force, and greatly diminishes the labor of adjusting and confining the several cars together.

I have represented the cases K as being beveled a little at the lower corners, so as not to slide under the ver f lowest particles ot' the peat, but to cut through the masses and pulverize the peat. I deem this of advantage, but not absolutely necessary to the success of my invention. Neither do I think it necessary that the cases K be exactly triangular in section. Other forms may be adopted, or teeth may be extended in various directions. Such teeth may be made movable, and may be hollow, so as to admit the steam. An infinite variety of forms may be adopted without sacricng what I consider the main feature of the stirring apparatus, which is the transmission of a hot fluid through it, so as to impart heat to the peat.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. Forming a continuous drying -table by means of the cars I) D,.whieh can be matched together or used separately', and arranged rel.- atively tothe side walls, B, and beds A, or their equivalents, so as to convey the gaseous products ot' combustion from the furnace and to utilize the heat therefrom for the purpose of drying peat in lumps or pulverized, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. In combination with the'above, the iiaps D', arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose herein sfecied.

3. The hollow stirrrer KL, adapted to transmit the heated Huid, and to impart the heat thereof to the peat, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

4. The false bottoni I, arranged relatively to the cars D, and to the several other parts, substantiallyY as represented, so as to convey a heated iluid between them and the ear-bottoms, and to allow a portion to rise through the peat in the several cars, for the purpose herein set forth.

5. To connect a series of ears with an iron pipe, or any other analogous means of trans mission, so that the hot fluid may pass from ear to car, and through the wet pulvcrized peat, either upward or downward, or through the sides, substantially the saine as spceiiied.

6. The process, substantially as herein described,ot` forcing superhcated or waste steam, or heated air or waste heat from a furnace, through wet pulver-ized peat, i'or the purpose of drying it, as herein specified.

7. Superheatin g the exhaust or waste steam from an engine, and heating air between the false bottom and bottom of the cars, or on the sides, by the hot products, whether the waste heat from a steam-boiler or of a furnace built for that purpose, as herein specified.

8. The means for forcing the cars together, the saine consisting ot' the screws O, or their equivalents, adapted to act on the whole series at a single operation, substantially as and for the purpose herein set i'orth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GUSTAVUS WEISSENBORN.

Witnesses:

D. W. S'rnTsoN, W. C. Dnv. 

